Biblica Analytica
H0702 Hebrew

אַרְבַּע

ar.ba

four

Lexicon Entry

Definition
four
Transliteration
ar.ba
Strong's Number
H0702
Occurrences
318

Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

What Original Readers Understood

Supported

# The Hebrew Word for Four (H0702: אַרְבַּע) The Hebrew term אַרְבַּע (transliterated as *arba*) is the standard word for the number four in biblical Hebrew. Its fundamental meaning is straightforward: it denotes the cardinal number that follows three and precedes five. The word appears 318 times throughout the Hebrew Bible, making it a relatively common numerical term in biblical texts. The frequency of this word's appearance across such a large body of biblical material suggests its importance in various contexts—from describing physical dimensions and quantities to marking temporal divisions and organizational structures. Rather than being confined to a single type of usage, the word appears distributed across narrative, legal, poetic, and prophetic literature, indicating it was a fundamental concept across all genres of biblical writing. This widespread usage reflects the practical necessity of counting and enumeration in ancient Hebrew religious, legal, and daily life contexts.

Source data & methodology
Strong's
H0702
Lemma
אַרְבַּע
Transliteration
ar.ba
Definition
four
Occurrences
318
Model
claude-haiku-4-5-20251001
Prompt version
1

AI synthesis uses only the lexicon data above as context — never training knowledge.

Occurrences in Scripture

318 total occurrences across the text — showing 50

2 Chronicles 25:23

Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth Shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

2 Chronicles 30:15

Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought burnt offerings into Yahweh’s house.

2 Chronicles 35:1

Josiah kept a Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

Ezra 1:10

thirty bowls of gold, four hundred ten silver bowls of a second sort, and one thousand other vessels.

Ezra 1:11

All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. Sheshbazzar brought all these up when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Ezra 2:7

The children of Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four.

Ezra 2:15

The children of Adin, four hundred fifty-four.

Ezra 2:15

The children of Adin, four hundred fifty-four.

Ezra 2:31

The children of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four.

Ezra 2:40

The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children of Hodaviah, seventy-four.

Ezra 2:64

The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty,

Ezra 2:67

their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty.

Ezra 6:19

The children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

Ezekiel 45:21

“ ‘ “In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

Nehemiah 6:4

They sent to me four times like this; and I answered them the same way.

Nehemiah 7:12

The children of Elam: one thousand two hundred fifty-four.

Nehemiah 7:23

The children of Bezai: three hundred twenty-four.

Nehemiah 7:34

The children of the other Elam: one thousand two hundred fifty-four.

Nehemiah 7:43

The Levites: the children of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, of the children of Hodevah: seventy-four.

Nehemiah 7:66

The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty,

Nehemiah 7:69

their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty.

Nehemiah 9:1

Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them.

Nehemiah 11:6

All the sons of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were four hundred sixty-eight valiant men.

Nehemiah 11:18

All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred eighty-four.

Esther 9:15

The Jews who were in Susa gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Susa; but they didn’t lay their hand on the plunder.

Esther 9:17

This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of that month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

Esther 9:18

But the Jews who were in Susa assembled together on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth days of the month; and on the fifteenth day of that month, they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

Esther 9:19

Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a good day, and a day of sending presents of food to one another.

Esther 9:21

to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar yearly,

Job 1:19

and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Job 42:12

So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.

Job 42:16

After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations.

Proverbs 30:15

“The leech has two daughters: ‘Give, give.’ “There are three things that are never satisfied; four that don’t say, ‘Enough:’

Proverbs 30:18

“There are three things which are too amazing for me, four which I don’t understand:

Proverbs 30:21

“For three things the earth trembles, and under four, it can’t bear up:

Proverbs 30:24

“There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:

Proverbs 30:29

“There are three things which are stately in their march, four which are stately in going:

Isaiah 11:12

He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah 17:6

Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree,” says Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Isaiah 36:1

Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

Jeremiah 15:3

“I will appoint over them four kinds,” says Yahweh: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

Jeremiah 36:23

When Jehudi had read three or four leaves, the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.

Jeremiah 49:36

I will bring on Elam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them toward all those winds. There will be no nation where the outcasts of Elam will not come.

Jeremiah 49:36

I will bring on Elam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them toward all those winds. There will be no nation where the outcasts of Elam will not come.

Jeremiah 52:21

As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits encircled it; and its thickness was four fingers. It was hollow.

Jeremiah 52:30

in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five people: all the people were four thousand six hundred.

Ezekiel 1:5

Out of its center came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: They had the likeness of a man.

Ezekiel 1:6

Everyone had four faces, and each one of them had four wings.

Ezekiel 1:6

Everyone had four faces, and each one of them had four wings.

Ezekiel 1:8

They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides. The four of them had their faces and their wings like this: